thirty-eight

So, Monday was my birthday. (June 21st, first day of summer, longest day of the year, most hours of sunlight.) I've spent about 36 years running through that whole diatribe about June 21st. Because OF COURSE my day was the coolest of the whole year!

Growing up, I didn't just have a birth- day. I had a birth- week. Thanks to my mom. (She is also the mastermind behind the 25 lb. Christmas stocking, but that is for another post, another time.) My mom liked to celebrate. She liked to make things special. And little did I know, not everyone had a birth- week. (Have I mentioned I'm an only child?) I like to think of myself as *celebrated*, not spoiled.

I had some great birthday parties growing up. Like the time when I was 3 and Quackie the Clown showed up and did scary magic tricks. So scary that I cried the whole party. That might have been the party that I also had the pinata. The one that my mom *thought* was pre-filled with candy. It wasn't. We found that out after 15 kids descended on an empty panda bear.

One birthday in grade school my mom and dad took me and 4 of my best friends on an overnight trip to Cedar Point. I have some great memories from that one.

Since I've been a "grown up" the traditions have lessened a bit. My birthday tends to keep more or less to the actual day. But my mom has always been strict about the *rules* of a birthday phone call. No additional party is permitted to be on the phone. (Meaning my mom and dad were both required to make a separate call.) Money is not permitted to be given on a birthday (although some years, that would have been preferred.) Gifts only. And cake. A beautiful, delicious cake from a bakery.

As you can imagine, this year was bittersweet. No phone call. A card full of cash from my dad. And my birthday cake? Left over cake from the Memorial Service (my mom would have been SO PISSED!)

Thankfully, Steve did a pretty good job. Cash (ha!) for a trip I'm taking in July. A gift card to a cute brunch place and flowers. Friends broke into our house before we got home on Monday and had balloons and a *real* cake waiting for me. My friend, Susie, even came over and watched The Bachelorette with me.

All in all, it was the saddest birthday on record, yet I am blessed beyond belief. An amazing husband. Awesome kids. And friends who celebrated me well. I'm not sure #38 will be my favorite birthday, but it will be one I'll never forget.